Tomb Raider 2013: Not Going Home
by link13122
Summary: After the tragedy on the island of Yamatai, Lara Croft has decided that she is not going home. She decided to go back to Yamatai, in search of answers. But when she uncovers a legend of the Season of the Witch, will her instincts be enough?


TOMB RAIDER 2013 : NOT GOING HOME

CHAPTER 1: SEASON OF THE WITCH

A young girl, 21, leaning on the railing of a ship. But this is not any girl, this is Lara Croft, survivor of the disaster on Yamatai in the Dragon's Triangle. She had just been rescued by this ship, but she is not going home. She is simply seeing off her friends. Once she can see to it that they are safe, she will return to the living hell the Japanese named Yamatai. Only now, there is a calm over the island, Lara calls it the "calm after the storm." The powerful Sun Queen, Himiko, had great power, even after death, and controlled storms around the island, not permitting any 'visitors' to leave. Lara was able to stop Himiko, along with brave souls who had given their lives, and even those who had gone home. Lara had no home. She could not simply go to an old apartment, or crash at a friends. Her mind was set on the island, and answers. She only hid the fact that she could not return because her real home was Croft Manor, left to her by her parents after their deaths. Only Winston keeps the Manor alive, but Lara is set on building her own life, independent. She has not tapped a penny of inheritance.

She now sees that her father was not crazy to chase what she waved off as myths. They always have truth, and Lara needs to find answers. She starts by heading back to Yamatai, keeping strong as Roth, Grim, and Alex would want her to. Her train of thought is cut off as a deck hand addresses her. "Excuse me, Miss Croft, but are you sure you want to go back there? That would be suicide." Lara didn't even react to the question with anything but a response. "I need answers." That was all she had to say, and the man nodded, and wandered below the decks.

Lara pulled her journal from her pack. She looked through notes, and grabbed artifacts gathered from the island. She studied them closely, as she had the maps of the Dragon's Triangle before the expedition. She then pulled out a coin, given to her by Winston. _Monuments are built in rememberance. But monuments erode and decay. Memories are all that remain._ She could not admit to herself that she missed home. She needed to be independent. Her gaze drifted to the sounds of footsteps. A short man with a pinched face walked over to her. "Look at you, lass. You're a Croft, and you're taking the same path as your parents. I guess you didn't learn. You will just end up like your parents." The calm atmosphere burned away, and something inside Lara, instinct, snapped into action. She threw a balled fist into the man's face, throwing him back to the floor. "You bastard! I should kill you where you stand!" The stubby man smirked. "Oh, big talk for a little girl." He got to his feet and tried to throw his weight at her, but she sidestepped and brought her elbow down on his spine, and he laid there, motionless. The deck hands rushed to the scene. "Are you okay, mate!?" Lara shook her head in disbelief, and one of the crewman addressed her. "You, you need to control yourself. What makes you any better from the Solarii?" Lara felt her temper build, and she glared at the man. "Shut the hell up, _now!" _ The man chuckled, and looked to his peers. "You hear that, boys? The pussy wants to show her claws." A few men laughed in unison, and Lara lashed out. Adrenaline pumping, she landed blow after blow on the damn fool. When she stopped, she stepped away and admired her work. The man lay on the ground, wimpering at his now broken nose and fractured jaw. A few other crewmen joined into the fight, but others who were not so foolish took Lara's side. Before Lara could land a punch, a majority of the crewmen were restrained by her allies.

"It's alright, ma'am. You head down to your cabin, we'll clear this up." Lara nodded her thanks, and walked off.

Lara repeated the phrase over and over in her head. _What makes you any better than the Solarii?_ _How many people did I kill? __I didn't even know the men, and they wanted me dead. That gave me the right for defense, right?_ She was always testing her moral obligations when such things were brought up. She killed numerous lives on Yamatai, by instinct, fight or flight. _A creature will fight to survive._ Mathias's words echoed in her head. _So don't think I don't understand you, girl._ No. Lara was not like them. Lara had done what she did to protect herself and the lives of her friends. She shook the topic off of her head, and started down to the cabins. She entered her cabin and sealed the door. She rifled through the closet, looking for something to sleep in. She grabbed a white pair of long pajamas. _Better than nothing._ She stripped and jumped into the outfit, which was very loose. She sat down on the solid bed, her fingers caressing the artifact from her first find that hung around her neck. She laid back and drifted to sleep.

* * *

Lara woke up by the sound of her alarm, which she sharply reacted to. She couldn't help but feel jumpy after Yamatai, and she had sharp instincts. She sat up and stretched. She walked briefly to the women's room, and fortunately for her, she was the only female on the ship. She disrobed and stepped into the shower, an empty hall of tile with rusted shower heads hanging every few feet apart.

When she stepped out of the shower in only a towel, she felt vulnerable, and soon found herself sneaking her way back to her cabin. She quickly sealed the hatch to her cabin, and jumped into her old outfit, a blue-gray tang-top with a brown pair of cargo pants. Of course, this wasn't the same pair of clothing from the island, which had been torn quite severely, but an extra pair. She grabbed her journal and slipped it into a side pocket.

Once Lara was ready, she headed down to the mess hall for breakfast. She sat alone in a dimly lit corner, in the bleak rusted series of steel tables. Despite the age of the ship, the mess hall had a gyroscopic room, which would keep everything inside even no matter how often the boat rocked. Lara poked at her food, which seemed to be older than some relics from Yamatai. She sipped the water, which turned out to taste just as bad as sea water, and passed the plate to the end of the table, and sat with her head down.

Walking back to her cabin, she noticed someone enter before she could reach it. She sidled against the wall, and crept slowly, and tried reaching for her climbing axe, which she did not have with her. She reached the cabin, and inspected the room. Once she saw no one was inside, she sealed the door. She sat down on the bed in the dark, and waited for a reason to get up again. She hated sitting on the ship as a useless asset. Just then, a shadow crept across her vision. "Who's there?" She quickly stood up and grabbed her climbing axe, which sat under her bed. A frail figure slowly moved forward, and spoke japanese. She could only translate "The time has come for the Season of the Witch. ...Will see you once again...Will be a slave to her." The frail figure put a hand on her, and it _burned._ Lara swung her axe, but caught nothing. She heard someone calling her name.

That's when she woke up, still at the mess hall. "Lara, wake up. You've been here for 3 meal rotations." She looked up, dazed. "Do you know when we will reach Yamatai?" The deck hand turned away, muttering something to a crew member. "Well, they estimate we have 12 hours until we reach the island. Do you need anything for your expedition?" Lara shook her head, and stood up. A small itching sensation on her arm demanded attention. She reached to scratch it, and she felt excruciating pain. She looked closely, and a dark hand print formed, almost skeletal. "Aaaaaah!" A few men looked at her, but she ran back into her cabin, turned on the light, and locked the door.

_What the hell just happened?_ She kept rubbing the hand print, trying to find logic as to what could have happened. "There is no witch. No one entered my cabin, it was a damn dream!"


End file.
